


Comatose

by KayleeJohn



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: AU Jumping, Alternate Universe, Angst, M/M, idk how else to tag this, injured!niall
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-16
Updated: 2014-01-16
Packaged: 2018-01-08 21:48:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1137761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KayleeJohn/pseuds/KayleeJohn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The only thing Niall knows is Harry.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Comatose

When Niall opens his eyes, he’s standing in a forest he doesn’t recognize, in clothes he doesn’t own, and looking through glasses he definitely doesn’t need to wear. He takes a big gulp of air and clutches a shaking hand to his throat, snapping his head around wildly before he gasps in a desperate voice. “Where am I?” 

"I don’t know!" The aggravated shout makes Niall spin around to face this boy with unruly brown hair and a long, lean stature. His eyes are narrowed in frustration, brows knitted tight together as he crosses his arms over a broad chest. "You decided to drag me around this freaking forest, Niall! You wouldn’t tell me where we’re going!" 

Niall blinks at the boy, stumbles back a step at his angry rant, holds out his hands as if he’s afraid he’ll get hit. “I’m sorry. Give me a second.” Niall stammers before he claps his hands to the sides of his head. He squeezes his eyes shut in effort to remember where he is and what he’s doing here, even just who the hell this guy is, but he feels the floor slip out from underneath him and his heart jumps into his throat. 

When Niall opens his eyes, he’s staring up at an unfamiliar ceiling without the glasses but he’s tangled in damp sheets that cling to his skin. Niall’s chest is heaving like he’s run a marathon and he’s just about wondering where the hell that forest went when he feels a heady jolt in his ass and he arches up with a gasp. That boy appears above him not a moment later and he looks different than he had the first time but still distinctly the same.

He looks older now, a longer face with less plump in his cheeks. From what Niall can see, he’s still as lean and long as before, and his bare chest is muscular to the tee. Niall’s eyes drop to the red  _red_ lips that are spread in a grin instead of a yell before the boy flops down onto the bed beside Niall lightly, throwing an arm over Niall’s waist. Very  _low_  on Niall’s waist. 

The boy twists his hand to scale his fingers over the line of Niall’s thigh and it’s at that moment that Niall realizes just how naked he is. So Niall does what anyone else would do in this situation. He squeals and twists to scramble for bed sheets, tugs them up to his chin to hide his body, but he feels a hand on his cheek before he can even think about squeezing his eyes shut and this boy is turning Niall’s head to look at him. 

"Covering yourself kind of defeats the purpose when I was  _in_  you five seconds ago.” The boy chuckles and lets his hand rest against Niall’s collarbones. He starts pushing his hand gently down Niall’s chest, taking the blanket with him, and Niall lets it happen even if his heart is resting somewhere high in his throat.

"And we’re not going over this again." The boy stops when the sheets pool around Niall’s lap and Niall is ever so grateful for that. "I will  _never_  stop loving your body, Niall. Okay?” The boy settles his hand right against the center of Niall’s chest and Niall nods at the boy’s words. The hand against his chest is this hot press that just cements Niall right here, right now, next to this person he doesn’t know but it’s so obvious he’s loved that he doesn’t care.

"Yeah," Niall nods and reaches out a cautious hand but the boy just grins and takes Niall’s hand, pressing it flat against his cheek. "Yeah, thank you-," Niall stops, stiffens really because he doesn’t know the boy’s name and that makes him flush scarlet.

"Harry?" The boy supplies helpfully with a wide grin and he reaches up to thread a hand through Niall’s hair. "Note to self, Niall’s limit is four orgasms in an hour." Niall tucks his head down in a blush at the words and Harry laughs as he tugs Niall closer with the hand over his waist. "Come on. Let’s rest. We’ve got a big day tomorrow."

Niall wants to ask exactly what is going to happen tomorrow, what this ‘big day’ is, but he suspects he should already know, much like he should’ve already known Harry’s name. He’s made a fool of himself enough as it is and, when Harry shuts his eyes and lets out a happy sigh, cuddles up close in the bed beside, Niall just follows suit, rolling over onto his side so he can press a hand against Harry’s chest. Niall closes his eyes to fall asleep but he suddenly and dizzily feels the world slide out from underneath him like someone has tugged the sheets from the bed to the floor and he along with them. 

When Niall opens his eyes, he’s surrounded by fire and long tongues of orange and red lap ever closer along the wood floor beneath. The smoke in the air stings Niall’s eyes and throat and he doubles over in a cough, covering his mouth to try and save what’s left of his lungs. He presses back into the wall behind as his knees start to buckle and it’s a startling cold compared to the blaze in front of him.

The roof is collapsing above him, giant beams of wood breaking through to slam into the floor, and Niall shouts. “Hello?” He screams but he gags as the taste of burn and ash coats his mouth. “Anybody?! Help!” The boards beneath Niall’s feet start to pop and snap and Niall pushes away from the wall with a screech. He  _needs_  to get out of this place.

Niall rushes forward and dodges the flames, bracing his arm over his nose and mouth but he trips over a hole in the floor and sprawls out like a limpet. Niall arches up from pain and lets out a weak sob, trying to flail back to his feet, when there’s a shout that echoes over the crackling fire. “Niall!” Niall cranes his head up to see a figure bursting through the flames and he’s completely caught off guard when Harry clambers over to him, grabbing at Niall’s arms to hoist him up.

Again, Harry looks different than the first two times Niall saw him. He’s younger again and that confuses Niall because, normally, when people age they get  _older_  not  _younger_. His hair is an unruly mess, singed at the ends because of the fire, and the soft lines of his face are covered with soot and ash. Niall doesn’t have to think twice before moving with him, stumbling after Harry as he cuts them a clear path through the fire. They’re outside within seconds and dragged away from the burning building by worried firemen and frantic parents. 

"That was stupid, Harry!" A woman with long brown hair and Harry’s eyes shakes them both before hugging them tight and, though Niall doesn’t know who she is, her arms feel like being home. "You should’ve let the firemen do their job!" 

Harry shakes his head and fists his hands tighter in Niall’s shirt where he’s still holding him up as if Niall’s knees will just buckle at any moment. “Niall could’ve died! I couldn’t just stand there!” Harry cries in a voice raspy and splintered before he twists and tucks his head into the crook of Niall’s neck.

Whoever the woman is, she doesn’t get a second chance to yell at them because they’re rushed away by paramedics who set them up in the back of an ambulance and they get treated for shock, smoke inhalation, and minor burns. Harry spends nearly the entire time with his nose pressed tight to Niall’s throat, sniffling against it as he keeps his hand locked around Niall’s wrist.

"I’m okay." Niall whispers, threading his fingers gently through Harry’s crisp hair and, though he doesn’t know how the fire broke out, he feels like it’s partly  _his_  fault that Harry is in this condition. “You saved me. I’ll never be able to repay you.”

"I could just hear your screams and," Harry snuffles against Niall’s neck and curls up tighter against his side, tips his fingers down Niall’s arm to lace their fingers together. "If I hadn’t had you over, you wouldn’t have gotten hurt. I’m sorry, Niall." 

"It wasn’t your fault." Niall squeezes their hands lightly before he shrugs a shoulder. He knocks his foot gently against Harry’s before twisting to face him and he smiles as confidently as he can with a bright red shock blanket wrapped around him. 

Harry pulls away from Niall’s hands but cups Niall’s cheeks instead, holding Niall steady as he speaks. “I should’ve told you this months ago but it took near-death for me to be sure.” Harry strokes his thumbs gently over the swells of Niall’s cheeks before he nods as if finally confirming something to himself. “Niall, I love you. I’ve loved you for a very long time and I want to be with you for a very long time, if you’ll let me.” 

It takes a moment but Niall swallows over the rock in his throat, nods his head until it feels like he’s in an earth quake. “Yeah,” Niall gasps out, touching at Harry’s wrists softly before he drops his hands to Harry’s shirt and bodily pulls him closer. “Yeah, I want that.”

Niall doesn’t understand anything that’s going on; he certainly doesn’t understand how he went from a forest to a bed to a burning building to an ambulance.The only thing he does understand is that he is cared for and loved by this boy who he knows nothing about but that knows  _everything_ about him and Niall doesn’t know how not to fall in love with that.

Harry lets his eyes flutter shut and he leans in and Niall shuts his eyes for the kiss. He lets out a  _raw_ sob when he feels the world jolt beneath him, that same tug in his stomach like the forest and in bed. It’s like the ambulance has started driving away, knowing that they’re in the back but not caring in the slightest. Niall doesn’t even hit the concrete beneath. 

When Niall opens his eyes, he’s lying, sprawled out, on a carpet floor and he can hear laughter from somewhere above but not in his immediate area so it’s not like the people are laughing at him directly. Niall fumbles to his feet and glances around as he rubs at the back of his neck where he should find singed hair but it’s all smooth and soft and just  _not burned_. Niall doesn’t understand. 

He moves away from the bed bunks built into the wall, down the small corridor into a larger, lounge area where two boys that are distinctly  _not_  Harry are sitting at a table. One of them, with short quiffed brown hair, looks up at Niall before smiling and he stands from the table. “How are you, Niall?” He grins, looping an arm around Niall’s shoulders loosely. “Didn’t think you’d be up before two after all that beer you had yesterday.” 

Niall slides smoothly out from under the boy’s arm because it feels wrong, not like it had with Harry, and he ducks his head anxiously. “Where am I?” Niall asks softly, trying to seem as casual as possible in his question. 

The boy raises an eyebrow at Niall before glancing over at the other boy still sat at the table. They share a look Niall doesn’t see or understand before the first boy looks back at Niall and reaches out a cautious hand. “You’re on the relaxation bus, Niall. Are you okay? Did someone give you something funny?” 

"We were with him all night, Liam." The boy from behind chimes in and Niall takes the first boy as the one named Liam. He’s never seen either of them before in any of these… little snapshots of life so he stares back and forth between them in confusion as to who the hell they are. The other one speaks again but all Niall wants to do is leave. "No one had a chance to give him anything funny." 

"I’m just saying, Louis." Liam offers before he turns back to Niall, reaches out a hand to ruffle Niall’s hair lightly. "Maybe you’ll feel better after you get something to eat."

Niall opens his mouth to say something, something he isn’t quite sure of yet, but then a door creaks open and Harry climbs up the stairs, stopping once he sees Niall is staring at him blankly. “Um, hi?” He raises a hand idly before scratching at the line of his throat, adorably anxious under the stares.

Niall can’t scramble past this Liam guy fast enough. Niall nearly throws Harry back into the stairs with the force that he hugs him but Harry catches them both and chuckles, stroking his hand over the length of Niall’s back. ”I missed you.” Niall gasps into Harry’s chest, burrowing ever closer even though Harry laughs again.

"I’ve only been gone for an hour." Harry says in this comfortable long drawl and he presses a hand to push Niall away a little, just enough so that Niall can see the way his brow is creased in confusion but Niall barely takes notice of it because he’s far too busy taking Harry in as a whole. 

Niall delights in the way Harry’s hair is tousled on top of his head, slicked back away from his brow to frame the round of his face, and he’s looking down at Niall with this warm fond in his eyes. ”Kiss me.” Niall says the words in this soft voice and wants nothing more than to breach the short distance between them but Harry’s face breaks out in horror like he’s watching the most terrifying thing.

Niall drops his arms and crosses them over his chest before, feeling his heart sink to his toes, but then he hears Harry stammering for words. Niall looks up and Harry has a bridge of blush from cheek to cheek and it’s only then that he realizes that it’s not that Harry doesn’t  _want_  to kiss him.

Niall doesn’t care about their current company even if Harry does, so he reaches forward and hooks his fingers into the pocket of Harry’s shirt. ”You wanted to kiss me before.” But Niall knows it wasn’t in this world. “Do it now.” Niall steps forward again and cocks his head to the side but Harry is only flushing redder still.

"I thought you were asleep." Harry finally gasps out, running a hand through his hair before he tears his eyes away and he starts stumbling back before Niall can get a good grip on him. He’s down the stairs and out the door before Niall can even blink and, at the sound of a low whistle, Niall spins around to face Liam and Louis with narrowing eyes. 

"That was rough." Louis offers, turning back to his tea and Niall barely spares him a glare before he’s sprinting off the bus after Harry. He doesn’t see Harry when he’s outside, twisting his head this way and that before he’s off again but he doesn’t make it far because this big burly bear of a man jumps in front of him. 

"Niall, go back to the relaxation bus." The man speaks in this gruff voice and plants his hands in his hips so that he’s twice as big and stops Niall twice as much. 

"No," Niall doesn’t even try to dive past this man because he knows it’ll be fruitless so he has to win with words but he doesn’t even understand why he’s so gung-ho to get back to Harry if he’s just going to get the same treatment. Compared to all the other moments, Harry is by far the most reluctant in this one and Niall kind of wants to leave but he doesn’t even know how. "I have to go find Harry."

"He’s sleeping now and you should be too." Niall doesn’t understand how Harry could be asleep at this very moment when he was speaking to Niall mere moments ago but the man narrows his eyes at Niall suspiciously and Niall knows he has to speak fast. 

"I’m not tired. I’ve just been asleep." Niall’s not sure if he had just been asleep but he’d gotten up from the floor by the bunks and that Liam guy had asked him how he felt so he must’ve been sleeping. Not to mention the fact that he didn’t feel tired whatsoever but that might just have to do with his confusion about Harry.

"If you get tired during your set, don’t come complaining to me." The man shrugs and turns away and Niall counts it as a victory when he can run past. Niall looks all over, everywhere he can imagine, but he doesn’t find Harry again.

Niall looks for what feels like hours, and could very well be because he doesn’t have a watch, but he’s ushered into a dressing room at some point by this blonde haired woman. Liam and Louis are inside along with this other boy who grins wide at Niall but Niall can’t be bothered with any of them because he doesn’t see Harry. 

"Where is Harry?" The woman snaps before Niall can and then she’s rushing out of the room before Niall can even mumble, ‘that’s what I’d like to know’. Niall sighs and sinks onto the free couch across from the one Liam and Louis are sitting on and it’s only then that he realizes how much of a toll running around took on him as he sags down low on the couch.

Niall hugs his knees close to his chest and curls into the cushions, leans his head gently against the armrest as his eyes start to droop shut but he’s got to stay awake. He’s got to see if Harry comes in. He does after a moment, passive aggressively arguing with that woman, and Niall tries to sit up but he is just so tired that he flops back down with a weak sigh, watching through slits as Harry moves from that woman to Liam, chatting lightly, and Niall is cursing the fact that he  _can’t_ stay awake. 

Niall’s eyes slip shut and he waits for the pull but he nearly cries when it doesn’t come because that means he has more time, more time to get Harry. Niall cracks his eyes open again to see Liam pointing back at him and they’re too far away for Niall to hear what they’re saying but he sure as hell can feel his heart break in two when Harry shakes his head and twists away, heading away from where Niall is. 

Niall has known this boy for what feels like five minutes, has seen him jump through time, though life, in different shapes and forms and it shouldn’t hurt as much as it does but it  _does_. Niall covers his mouth with the back of his hand, muffles the sob that gets caught in the back of his throat, and, as he squeezes his eyes shut tight, he prays for the pull. He’s glad when it comes. 

When Niall opens his eyes, it’s seconds before a fist makes contact with his cheek and he doesn’t have a chance to even speak before he’s twisting to the right in pain, spitting blood out of the corner of his mouth with bile and an excess of spit. Not a moment goes by before a fist plants dead into Niall’s stomach and he grunts harshly as he’s forced back into a rough brick wall. 

"Why don’t you fight back, you  _fucking faggot_?!” Niall doesn’t have to look up but he does because he recognizes that voice more than he should. Harry is rough edges and unruly hair again but it’s trapped tight under a black beanie that makes him look ten times as menacing and the grimace on his mouth pulls his lips tight against his teeth. “You are everything wrong with this world!”

Niall feels his left eye seal swollen and bruised and he spits more blood out against the floor but Harry must take it as a personal attack because he plants one hand in Niall’s shoulder to hold him still and the other fist into Niall’s stomach. “Why can’t you just be normal?” 

Harry pulls his hands away and Niall sinks to the ground, coughing over blood before he palms his hands against the rough gravel beneath. It’s more than clear that Harry isn’t yelling at Niall but, instead, he’s just yelling at himself and taking out his anger on Niall like Niall is a conduit for Harry’s anger.

Niall glances up at Harry through a wince and shrugs a shoulder, works a gentle hand over his jaw before he pulls away. “You don’t get to choose who you love.” Niall offers softly before he drops his eyes to the ground where splatters of blood still paint the floor. 

Harry sinks to his knees a moment later and claps his hands to Niall’s shoulders but his hands are shaking and his face is contorted in a sob. “I’m sorry. I know. I’m sorry.” He blurts out and touches at Niall’s swollen cheek but Niall twitches away because he  _hurts_. Even if he gets Harry here, he doesn’t want him. “I’ll take you to the nurse’s.” Maybe Niall spoke too soon. 

Niall hesitates to take Harry’s hand, pulls his own away quick but he stumbles back against the wall as he struggles to stand. “Whoever you love,” Niall starts, looking up at Harry with level eyes. “They either accept you, or they don’t deserve you. It’s as simple as that.” 

"I hope you accept me." Harry mumbles before he leans in. Niall gets his kiss but not in the way he wants it. He doesn’t kiss Harry back. Niall cannot so easily forgive. Harry pulls away to press another to the blooming bruise on Niall’s cheek and Niall squeezes his eyes shut as the pull eclipses the pin pricks of pain all over his skin. He isn’t sad to see this Harry go.

When Niall opens his eyes, his mother’s face looms into view before she pulls sharply back and Niall feels sore still like he had really been battered by Harry’s fist. Niall tries to sit up but then a hand keeps him pinned to the bed and a doctor looms into view. “Where am I?” Niall slurs out and it feels like he’s got cotton balls stuffed into his mouth.

"You’re in a hospital, Niall." His mother speaks softly into his ear and her voice comes out all syrupy and slow like she’s speaking to a young child which Niall certainly isn’t. "You’ve been in a coma for four months." 

Niall tries to sit up again, frantic now, and his flailing hand is caught by another’s, someone lacing their fingers with his. Niall’s heart races with false hope. “Harry?” He gasps out scrambling for a tighter grip but then his father appears, raising their clenched hands and Niall slumps back to the bed. 

"Do you know a ‘Harry’?" The doctor glances over at Niall’s parents and Niall just feels even worse when they shake their head ‘no’. "Well, it’s common for patients to have vivid dreams whilst they’re in a coma." Niall nearly cries at the fact that, after everything, Harry is reduced to nothing more than a dream by this doctor who knows  _nothing_. 

"We’ll have to run some tests." Niall doesn’t want to do any tests. Niall just wants to be left alone. "Make sure his mind is okay." After what he’s been through, after being thrown into such realistic versions of his life, Niall’s mind isn’t okay and he doesn’t need a test to tell him that. His parents still make him take them and the tests turn out to be more arduous and tiring than anything. Niall still manages to get a good portion of them wrong, mostly from having lost four months of his life in a flash. 

Still, Niall does get the majority of them right -  _"Who is the British Prime Minister?" "David Cameron"_ \- as well as passes his physical with only the slightest bit of residual soreness. He’s kept for observation for an additional week but released on the eighth day with strict instructions to take it easy as well as given pills for the pain. Niall’s parents are overjoyed that he has been released but Niall is just trying to come to terms with the fact everything he’s been through is nothing more than a lie.

Niall is just heading toward the waiting room, holding onto his mother’s arm as he favours his left leg when he swears he sees a familiar head of unruly brown hair, just sitting there with his elbows on his knees, hands clasped and head bowed like he’s praying. Niall doesn’t think twice before he’s calling out, “Harry?” in this weak, hopeful voice, and his heart nearly stops when that head snaps up and it’s  _him_. 

Harry has this gaunt expression on his face, eyes dark and sunken in and his face pale like Niall’s never seen before, all five times he’s seen him, and he looks old, the oldest of all the times he’s been. Niall can hear the gush of air Harry still lets in a relieved sigh before Harry jumps up from his chair to run across the waiting room.

The next thing Niall knows, Harry is hugging him and stumbling them a little ways away from Niall’s parents but none of that matters because Harry is just a dream and he’s not real but he’s still here and Niall can’t breathe. “I don’t understand.” Niall gasps before he tightens his hold on Harry’s shoulders, knotting his fingers in Harry’s hair. “You’re not- You  _can’t_  be-,” 

"I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so so sorry." Harry breathes like a mantra against the skin of Niall’s neck. "I wasn’t looking-. I should’ve been-. My car-. Your car-. When I heard-. I never left. I came every week." Niall sucks in a deep breath at the words, at the revelation of exactly how he ended up in a coma but then Harry is going on.

"Your parents, told me all about you-. I know-. I thought you weren’t ever going to wake up!" He stammers a bit longer before he falls quiet and Niall wondered why his parents weren’t butting in but he realizes now that he doesn’t  _care_  and he just hugs Harry tighter.

"I dreamt about you." That seems to be like the right thing to say because Niall mumbles it into the crook of Harry’s shoulder, leans into Harry’s chest when he feels his knees start to give beneath him. "I don’t know what to say." 

Harry pulls back so he and Niall have no choice but to stare deep into each other’s eyes and he claps his hands to Niall’s shoulders unwaveringly. “Say you forgive me.” Harry speaks in a shaky tone as if worried that Niall would hold this against him for life or something but this is the first time they’re meeting, ever, and it’s as if they already know each other to a tee. 

Niall reaches out and cups Harry’s cheeks, memorizing every single inch of him now that he has him and, for a moment, Niall squeezes his eyes shut to make sure this isn’t another dream but Harry is still there when he opens them. Niall can’t get the words out fast enough. “I forgive you.” Niall gets his kiss this time and it’s exactly the way he wants it.

**Author's Note:**

> A.N.: This is loosely based on [this creepypasta](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-L3rk2K872Y&feature=share&list=SP100E6F8D8D47702F&index=12)! I posted this on [my tumblr](http://leprechauncupcakes.tumblr.com/post/72279550864/comatose-narry) more than a week ago but it recently occurred to me that I should post it on here as well! I hope you enjoyed it! I'd love if you left a comment :)


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